GRAHAM — Justin Wilson was Mr. Do-It-All for Western Alamance against Graham, leading the Warriors to a 42-26 victory in Friday night’s non-conference matchup.

Wilson caught seven passes for 101 yards and two touchdowns — both 19-yard swing passes in the first half — and ran a punt back 52 yards for a touchdown at the end of the third quarter.

“Graham brings a lot of pressure off the edge so we thought maybe we could get the ball in the seams and alleys somewhere outside,” said Western Alamance coach Jeff Snuffer. “We got it to Justin sometimes but sometimes they covered it.”

The Warriors (3-0) attempted multiple swing passes to the corners throughout the game, some of which could have gone horribly awry if quarterback Trevion McCollum had actually thrown them.

“(McCollum) made really good reads,” Snuffer said. “He took care of the ball. There were times he could’ve just thrown and gotten us in trouble.”

McCollum finished 12-of-20 for 167 yards and two touchdowns and an interception. The turnover didn’t come on a swing pass, though. Instead, it was a tipped ball over the middle.

“I knew I had to be careful with the swing passes,” McCollum said. “But we were working on those and seeing how far they were playing off. We thought we could run around them and we did at times.”

McCollum turned the ball over twice, including a fumble on the 1-yard line on the Warriors’ first drive of the second quarter.

At the time of the fumble, Graham (0-3) trailed by 14-13 after a missed point after attempt thanks to a botched hold. The Red Devils recovered the ball in the end zone for a touchback to force their first defensive stop of the game, but went three-and-out on the ensuing drive. That’s where things went downhill for coach Anthony Timmons’ squad.

The Warriors’ first drive after the punt went 49 yards in four plays and ended in Wilson’s second touchdown.

On the following drive, Graham quarterback Jamie Newman was intercepted deep in his own territory and Western Alamance scored on a K.C. Okoronkwo 17-yard run up the middle on the first play of the drive to put Western Alamance up 28-13 at the half.

Graham had its chances, but costly mistakes got the best of the Red Devils and they couldn’t recover fast enough from them.

“We have to cut down on the small mistakes,” Timmons said. “We’re getting better week by week, but we just didn’t execute when we were supposed to execute.”

Multiple dropped passes and three interceptions cost Graham late in the second quarter and early in the third. Trailing 28-13 with less than two minutes in the first half, Newman hit Courtney Edmonds in the hands with a pass, but the senior couldn’t hold on. Catching the ball would’ve been a sure touchdown, as he had already beat his defender on the edge and was in the clear.

Page 2 of 2 - On the following play, Newman was intercepted by Brock Deatherage.

Offensively, Deatherage also ran the ball three times for 51 yards, including a 36-yard touchdown run on a sweep to the left side on the first play of Western Alamance’s first drive of the second half.

Graham tried to get back in midway through the third quarter and trailing 35-13 after swinging momentum in its favor with an interception of McCollum. Newman followed the turnover with a 69-yard touchdown pass to Daniel Graves, but Wilson killed the momentum with the punt return for a touchdown with four seconds left in the third quarter.

“We fought,” Timmons said. “I’m proud of the guys for fighting until the end. Jaime really fought hard. He threw some interceptions and that’s rough, but he fought hard. We fought hard as a team.”

Newman finished 10 of 25 with 152 yards, a touchdown and the three interceptions. He also led the Red Devils in rushing with 64 yards on 12 attempts, including a 3-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter.

“Graham definitely has some athletes,” Snuffer said. “I’m really impressed with their quarterback. Oh man what a man he is. They should be proud of their effort. Graham didn’t quit.”

While Graves struggled to get anything going on the ground, the sophomore found the end zone on a 5-yard run in the first quarter. He carried a pile of defenders with him to the end zone for Graham’s first score.

Ledarius Lee got the bulk of the carries for the Red Devils, running 12 times for 22 yards and a touchdown, which came midway through the second quarter.

Donovan Apple, who had scored a touchdown in 13 straight games for the Warriors entering Friday night, continued the streak early with a 5-yard touchdown run in the first quarter to open the scoring.